Adam Silver Defends Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Deal With $11 Billion Worth ‘Gambling’ Company

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sees no problem with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s controversial Kalshi partnership.

Adam Silver Defends Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Deal With $11 Billion Worth ‘Gambling’ Company

Adam Silver on Giannis Antetokounmpo (Image credits - Firstsportz)

The 2025-26 campaign represents Adam Silver‘s 12th full season as commissioner of the NBA. And it appears to be the most challenging one. Over the last few seasons, Silver has had his hands full with all the recent gambling allegations surrounding the NBA, teams tanking halfway into the season, and the decline of the All-Star Game.

While sports leagues have embraced the billions of dollars that come with legalizing betting, athletes themselves have received little protection. There have been cases of NBA players getting involved in betting as well. It has been a growing concern for Adam Silver for a while now.

Over the last few years, fans have been confronting NBA stars over parlays. Sports bettors have increasingly gone from being furious supporters to harassers. Fans upset with failed wagers harass sportsmen in person and online. For example, stars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant have encountered this before.

Not so long ago, Jimmy Butler was confronted by a fan for not scoring 30 points in a game. Fred VanVleet was confronted by a fan at church over a missed parlay. It had gone so far that Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown had warned people before confronting him over parlays.

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo dominated the headlines for wanting to leave the club before the trade deadline despite Antetokounmpo reiterating his love for Milwaukee. Recently, the former Finals MVP announced he had joined the prediction market Kalshi as a shareholder. It was an investment that caught a lot of attention.

Silver addressed the media at NBA All-Star Weekend in L.A. He addressed Antetokounmpo’s investment with Kalshi and the state of sports betting in the NBA.

In the case of Giannis, from what I understand, it’s a minuscule investment, much smaller than one percent. So that does not violate the rules that have been collectively bargained with the player’s association. Obviously, it’s an issue that I’m paying enormous amount of attention to. We are currently looking at prediction markets in the same way that we are looking at sports betting.

Kalshi is listed as a trading company as well, which works in the Greek’s favor. No athlete or player would want to be forced to choose how their games will go.

Adam Silver to consider changing draft lottery

Tanking is another issue the NBA has been dealing with for quite some time now. Last Thursday, Silver finally took action on the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers for their actions over their last few games. Silver made it clear that the NBA will do almost anything to make sure its teams earnestly compete.

Adam Silver
Adam Silver (Image credits – ESPN)

Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory? Yes, in my view. Which is what led to those fines. And not just the fines, but my statement that we’re going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams’ behavior. I mean, what we’re doing, what we’re seeing right now, is not working. There is talk about every possible remedy now to stop this behavior.

The Jazz were fined $500k for conduct detrimental to the league related to the team’s games against the Orlando Magic on Feb. 7 and the Miami Heat on Feb. 9. Meanwhile, the $100k fine imposed on the Pacers is for violating the Player Participation Policy in connection with the team’s game against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 3.

Giannis Antetokounmpo speaks on Shams Charania’s game

For a change, NBA insider Shams Charania found himself on the other side of the spotlight. The 31-year-old insider represented Team Giannis in the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game, with Antetokounmpo serving as the honorary coach. The Greek forward is not participating in the All-Star Game this year due to an injury.

Team Giannis eventually secured a narrow 65-58 win over Team Anderson. But despite being on the winning side, Charania’s performance quickly grabbed attention for all the wrong reasons. Antetokounmpo made sure to get a light jab in on Charania. In a pregame interview, the “Greek Freak” had a blunt assessment of Charania.

You know why it’s not fair? Because I have Shams on my team. He cannot hoop. But, everybody else can hoop.

Charania finished 0 for 4 from the field with zero points and four turnovers. He did not record any rebounds or assists in what turned out to be a difficult night for the ESPN insider.

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